Turkey stride quickly out of the blocks

Turkey began their campaign to reach the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship with an impressive away victory against the Republic of Ireland in Group 2.

Top seeds
The visitors put the disappointment of losing a play-off against Belarus for this summer's finals back in October behind them at Turner's Cross, capitalising on defensive uncertainty to establish a two-goal half-time lead thanks to strikes from Deniz Yılmaz (13) and Emre Özkan (42). Ömer Şişmanoğlu added a fine third goal in added time as Turkey underlined their status as top seeds in a section which also includes Georgia, Switzerland, Armenia and Estonia.

Nolan error
Ireland were initially in the ascendancy but were undone by a mistake from captain Eddie Nolan as his attempted back header to goalkeeper Shane Redmond was too weak and Deniz stole in to put Turkey ahead with a precise finish. Turkey's second came from a corner from the right, Ferhat Kiraz swinging it to Emre who, unchallenged, swivelled and fired the ball high into the net. The final goal was the best of the three, however, Ömer tricking his way past Nolan before beating Redmond from close range.